Resonant instability of axionic dark matter clumps

Abstract: Axion is a popular candidate for dark matter particles. Axionic dark matter may form Bose-Einstein condensate and may be gravitationally bound to form axion clumps. Under the presence of electromagnetic waves with frequency $\omega=m_{a}/2$, where $m_{a}$ is the axion mass, a resonant enhancement may occur, causing an instability of the axion clumps. With analytical and numerical approaches, we study the resonant instability of axionic dark matter clumps with infinite homogeneous mass distribution, as well as distribution with a finite boundary. After taking realistic astrophysical environments into consideration, including gravitational redshift and plasma effects, we obtain an instability region in the axion density-clump size parameter space with given mass and coupling of axions. In particular, we show that, for axion clumps formed by the QCD axions in equilibrium, no resonant instability will occur.